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The desert called so we pulled out the long boats and headed down the Baja way, first loading enough boats to take full advantage of both coasts, then cramming the truck full of every camping comfort it would take, right down to a hand-cranked margarita blender.

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Sean Morley knows a few things about going fast. He honed his forward stroke technique as a flatwater sprint racer on the British junior national team, but has made his biggest mark traveling far and fast in challenging conditions. He’s held speed records for crossing the Irish Sea, circumnavigating Vancouver Island, and paddling 4,500 miles around Great Britain and Ireland, solo.

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A private river trip on central Idaho’s mighty Selway has long been known as one of North America’s best, and most exclusive, ventures. Difficult access creates much of that challenging allure, as the Selway’s remote location compounds the scarcity of its private permits: The Forest Service issues only 62 to the lucky few of the thousands who apply in the annual lottery.

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“Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks offer some of the best paddling opportunities in the world for all abilities -- to live so near to these amazing rivers and yet be unable to experience them is a constant frustration for me and many other residents and visitors.”

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Last year, our readers were so impressed by the Trans-Territorial Canoe Expedition–a four-month, 2,600-mile canoe journey across Canada’s Northern Territories–that they voted it the Expedition of the Year at the 2013 C&K Awards. But for expedition-member Winchell Delano, crossing Canada’s far north from the Pacific Ocean to the Hudson Bay wasn’t enough. He is planning to go even bigger in 2015. Starting in January, Delano and five other paddlers (John Keaveny, Dan Flynn, Jarrad Moore, Adam Trigg, and Luke Kimmes) will canoe from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean over a period of nine months and cover a distance of approximately 5,200 miles. We caught up with Delano to get the details of the Rediscover North America expedition. C&K: Just the map of your expedition route is mind-boggling. Where did this idea come from? Winchell Delano: Part of your Expedition of the Year award included a $2,500 grant towards a future expedition. That is probably where everything started; that is, the incentive to plan something. Once the drive to plan the trip was in place, our goal was to try and surpass the previous undertaking in both distance and duration. In order to do so, we decided to orient

Again?

In what has become an unending stream of huck(ing) – seemingly, to the point of nauseam – another kayaker, this time Brazilian Pedro Olivia, has reportedly broken the waterfall world record on Brazil’s Rio Sacre. The mark has been previously held, and often still claimed, by legends like Sean Baker, Corran Addison, Shannon Carroll, Tao Berman, Dave Grove, Ed Lucero, Tyler Bradt, the creepy German guy on Youtube whose footage can’t be confirmed (or completely denied) and Paul Gamache. Most of these cats have yet to file with Guinness. And we’ve yet to confirm whether or not Olivia will. Congratulations are due nonetheless. That’s one hell of a big drop, one hell of a good boater and Pedro is one hell of a nice guy. Our only question: Will the record eventually eclipse the 200-foot mark?

The following is from Jackson Kayak’s Ben Stookesberry, whose team was on a mission to set the record in South America this winter:

“Yesterday, the 4th of March, 2009, Brazilian kayaker and fellow Brazil World Record Attempt Expedition member Pedro Olivia shattered the existing world record (108 foot or 33 meter) with a 38. 7 meter (127 foot) waterfall descent on a tributary to the Amazon on the Rio Sacre in Campos Novos, Mata Grosso, Brazil. His 2.9 seconds of pure freefall sent Pedro rocketing into the pool at right around 70 miles per hour in his Jackson Kayak Rocker. Although people have certainly perished upon hitting a pool of water from such heights, the team counted on the massive, gushing rivers of Central Brazil to produce the softest water landings on earth. This particular falls was nearly a football field in width, with approximately 5,000 cfs of crystal clear 70 degree rain water spilling over the lip. This meant that although Pedros boat went over vertical, he and his boat were swept and kept intact into a deep mist filled pool. In fact, Pedro resurfaced behind the falls were he was able to right himself with his hands on a conveniently located boulder bar. The place is truly beyond description, and I guess that is why it is aptly named Salto Belo or Beautiful Falls.”